


Egg Hunt

by shaydi



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa 3: The End of 希望ヶ峰学園 | The End of Kibougamine Gakuen | End of Hope's Peak High School
Genre: Easter, F/M, Family, Family Fluff, Fluff, Married Life, Naegiri - Freeform, Post-Canon, Post-Dangan Ronpa 3, Post-Despair (Dangan Ronpa), naegiri child shuichi, post-dr3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-16
Updated: 2020-04-16
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:42:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23688628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shaydi/pseuds/shaydi
Summary: Inspired by a previous conversation with his spouse, Makoto decides to set up a fun little game for their son.Meant to be a cute family life drabble on its own, but could connect to other fics in the future.
Relationships: Kirigiri Kyoko/Naegi Makoto
Comments: 2
Kudos: 39





	Egg Hunt

A shift in weight. The shuffling sound of fabric. What is that? Kyoko was used to dead silence by the time she awoke for the day, her circadian rhythm was keen to the sun’s schedule, despite the penchant for her work to lead into the moon’s watchful gaze. Her husband would often express his concern for what he thought was an unhealthy sleeping habit, despite having his own troubles with the matter.

That’s right, her husband. She opened an eye to see his silhouette, only rim-lighted by the slight hint of oncoming dawn. He fumbled in the dimness, not turning on any light out of courtesy for his partner. But why was he up so early? It wasn’t that he was one to sleep-in exactly, as he still had quite an average schedule that usually left Kyoko enough time to brew and pour herself a coffee before he’d get up to join her. However, it was quite unusual for him to beat her to the punch, and even if he did happen to wake up before her from time to time, he’d simply pretend to sleep in attempts to get any extra winks in before the official start of day. His choice to get up and get ready was quite deliberate.

“What is it?” She asked in a breathy whisper of a voice that’s being used for the first time today. Makoto stiffened slightly at both the unexpected sound and a tinge of guilt.

“Ah, hey. Sorry, did I wake you up?” He replied in his own whisper, though it was a purposeful one as if thinking that talking quietly would somehow undo the mistake. However, there was no going back for her and she sat up to see him proper. 

“A bit.” She replied simply, though Makoto knew well enough that the short reply didn’t necessarily mean that it was a curt one, though a little part of him in the back of his mind sometimes worried that it did. “You’re not usually out of bed before me.” She remarked as her own way of asking why he was up so early.

“I’m just super excited.” He let himself talk a little louder to express that fact. Kyoko glanced at the digital clock at their bedside to ponder about his reasoning. Sure, it was a weekend and there was less work to do, but she wouldn’t consider that to be exciting on its own.

Makoto knew that she was still confused, and spoke up to offer a clearer answer. “Besides, I need a little extra time to prepare.” He added as he lightly tapped a finger to the side of his nose accompanied by a wink as if she could see it. Kyoko went ahead and turned on the bedside lamp, considering there was no one left in the room that would be bothered by it now.

“Prepare..?” She followed up with a slightly incredulous tone. Kyoko was usually the one who had a better grasp on their schedules at any given time. Could it be that she let something important slip her mind?

“Yeah! You know Easter?” He continued as more of a statement than an actual question. The woman blinked at him once, but it was slow enough to convey her bemusement. “Indeed... However, why would you suddenly care about such a thing?” She was starting to understand the situation a bit better, but it only gave her new questions. Of course she knew Easter, in fact, much better than he did. It wasn’t exactly a popular holiday where they currently lived, but it was a nearly unavoidable part of life when spring rolled around while she lived abroad.

“Well, I remembered when you talked about it once and it got me thinking that it’d be fun.” He replied with the utmost sincere smile that was common on his expression. At this, Kyoko decided that she might as well get her day started as well as she peeled the blanket from herself to swivel her legs off the side of the bed with a wakeful sigh.

“If you’re doing this for my sake, it’s not necessary. I won’t get any sense of nostalgia out of it, as I’m sure I’ve mentioned before that I didn’t really celebrate holidays growing up, much less foreign ones.” She reminded him as she stood up to get ready for the day. She had lived a rather stringent childhood, so celebrations were often reserved for milestones and very traditional Japanese practices.

“I kinda figured that already.” He admitted lightheartedly as he ran his fingers through his hair. “But I thought it’d be a really fun thing to do with Shuichi. I know he’d love something like this.” He added as he turned his whole body to follow his wife’s movements as she began to fix up the bed covers, holding his palms up as if waiting for her to hand him an agreement.

“Shuichi, huh? What’s your reasoning?” She hummed as she focused on straightening out her pillow. It’s not like it’s something that would be difficult to figure out on her own, but she figured that she might as well hear it from him while she got her morning essentials out of the way. 

“Well, you hide eggs for Easter, right?” He pointed a finger up idly as he began, her questions only encouraging him further. “He has a real knack for finding things.. even when it’s something he shouldn’t be getting into.” The slightly exasperated father didn’t even need to elaborate the last part he tacked on, as a handful of the instances he meant already come to her mind. 

“So I thought, hey, we can channel that kind of energy while spending some time together outside.” The grown man grinned like a boy proud of his own brilliance. He was always the one to take it upon himself to find the fun in their lives. For this, Kyoko was very grateful, considering it wasn’t exactly something that came naturally to her. Even if her enthusiasm wasn’t as outward as his, she appreciated the normal family life that he gave to her. Well, the most normal her life has ever been, anyways.

“When you put it that way, it does sound like a nice idea.” She agreed without any resistance. “I assume that you already had a plan laid out, considering you had no intention to wake me up.” She added as she scooted around the mattress.

“Yep! I got it covered, just you see.” He assured her as he grabbed the other side of the blanket to help her out, especially since his side always ended up the messiest. He already knew she wasn’t exactly chomping at the bit to participate, so he intended to do it all himself anyways. 

The couple finished their routine together before Makoto split off to put today’s activity into motion. Kyoko wasn’t all too nosy about his prepping process, but she did check up on him every once in a while as he filled the little plastic shells and proceeded to take the clutch out to the yard.

It was when she finished catching up with the daily news that she decided to lean at the front doorway of their home, watching her husband as he finished up. “Have you only been in the front yard?” She piped up to the man who had his hands on his waist whilst scanning over his own handiwork.

“Oh! Well, yeah.” He turned his head in reply after she’d caught his attention. “He’s only three, I couldn’t make it _too_ hard for him.” He chuckled as he walked back to join her. The detective’s eyes drifted over the yard at the plastic containers that dotted the grass in plain sight, while also spotting the bits of color that poked out from the foliage of the shrubs and snuggled into the roots of trees.

“Let’s go get him.” The more animated of the two stepped past his partner to lead the way back into the house. She gave one last glance outside with a slight shrug to herself before trailing him and shutting the door in their wake.

He stepped into the child’s room with no intention of not letting himself known. Kyoko was just outside the room to observe, but it never ceased to surprise her that the light of the sun hadn’t woken the child up by now. At the same time, she knew by now that he could’ve slept for another couple of hours if they let him.

“Good morning~” The father greeted with an expectant sweetness, but the only result he got was the boy tucking his face deeper into his blanket. “Time to wake up kiddo, I’ve got a surprise for you!” He giddily chuckled through his grin. 

The second parent, however, crossed her arms in the doorway. “Are you sure this isn’t all mostly for yourself..?” She deadpanned, the situation looking like a bizarro switched version of Christmas morning. However.. her love’s endless enthusiasm was admittedly cute.

Shuichi finally complied by opening his eyes, yet despite not even being in school he had the expression of someone who had their off-day interrupted. His father wasn’t about to hit snooze on this wake-up call, however. “Up!” He chirped as he grasped onto his son’s hands and lifted him to his feet. The toddler’s legs were rubber beneath him, and his head craned back as he considered going back to sleep, despite such a position.

“You know if I let go then you’ll fall.” Makoto teased as if this was business as usual, though, he wouldn’t actually let the kid go.. on purpose. Shuichi seemed to take the threat a bit more seriously when he remembered the one instance where he slipped, and finally stiffened his legs to support himself and lifted his head up into place, though his glossy half-lidded gaze remained.

“That’s it, now let’s get ready.” The man encouraged, something he did best. Though, even professional encouragement could wear off on a toddler who had woken up only moments ago, but he simply conceded to letting his father dress him. Kyoko lingered to watch them, a small fond smile pulling at her lip before she turned to go and prepare a bite to eat for the last resident of the home.

Shuichi sat with slow spoonfuls of his rice porridge before a question finally popped to his head when he hazily remembered something from when he was woken up. “Dad, what did, was the surprise you had?” Even though he was pretty well-spoken for his age, he still fumbled on his grammar at times as toddlers do.

“We’re gonna play a game outside today.” Makoto couldn’t help but answer. 

“We’re gonna play?” The boy was starting to get a bit excited, considering how special it seemed to be getting treated. 

“When you’ve finished getting ready.” His mother reminded him before he got ahead of himself, knowing that his father would be just as likely to do so as well. The child was put back on track, diligently finishing up his morning chores with the motivation of finding out what in the world this game was. He was more motivated by the fact that they wouldn’t tell him what it was yet than the actual idea of playing, and Makoto knew it.

The man led them outside, kneeling next to his son on the patio. “Ok, you’re gonna need this.” He began by putting a basket into the small hands. “Because a rabbit came and put a bunch of eggs in the yard, see?” The man explained the best he could considering he’s never actually played this game himself, pointing to the most obvious egg placed in the grass to start off with. 

Shuichi’s gaze shifted from the basket to follow his father’s finger, but he simply blinked in thought. “A rabbit…?” He tilted his head slightly. “Where did it get eggs?” He asked, not exactly satisfied with such a short explanation to such a strange occurrence. 

“Ah, well…” Makoto trailed off, not even having time to think of anything before another question came. “How could a rabbit hide eggs?” Shuichi added, leaning forward to get a better look at the object in question. “Why did it hide the eggs, dad?” He looked up to his parent expectantly, who was smiling weakly as he thought about the answers.

“It is quite silly, isn’t it.” Kyoko spoke up from behind them with a musing tone, to which her husband snapped his attention towards her. “Kyoko-!” He complained, feeling a bit betrayed that she wouldn’t even go along with it. 

“You see, it hid the eggs because it put fun stuff inside and wants you to find them.” He answered quickly to try to bury his wife’s remark and salvage whatever sense of whimsy he could. 

“How do you know that?” The boy asked, to which his father closed his mouth nervously. Geeze, this kid has absolutely no suspension of disbelief. “T-that’s not important. All you have to do is find them all, ok?” The man chuckled nervously as he put his hands on his son’s shoulders to urge him forward. He knew that the more questions that were asked, the more he’ll figure it out. “I want to know what’s inside them too, so I’m counting on you.” He encouraged, which received a nod in return. 

“Ok! I’ll find them for you!” The boy seemed more enthusiastic when it was framed as a request. 

When the child ran off in a beeline towards the first egg, Makoto stood up as his wife walked a couple steps forward to join at his side. “Who would’ve thought it would be that much of an endeavor just to get him to go find something?” The man commented with a chuckle. 

“Well, it wasn’t a very convincing story.” Kyoko replied with a hand on her chin and a small smirk. “You know he wouldn’t be satisfied with an explanation that had so many holes. That’s how he is.” She added with a glance over to her partner.

“Yeah, I really should have known better considering how much experience I have with that type of person.” He quipped in lighthearted exasperation, which only made her smirk all that more obvious. “But I’m glad to have that experience.” He added as he took her hand lightly to lead her to where a blanket was spread neatly on the ground, having been hidden from sight by the trunk of a tree before.

“Hm?” She hummed as she noticed a blanket laid out neatly on the grass with a small box as the centerpiece. She wondered when he had the time to put this out here, and he answered her thoughtful expression with a soft smile. 

“You’re going to sit with me while we watch him, right?” He offered as if the answer was obvious.

“A picnic in the front yard?” She remarked at what it looked like. 

“Well, you’re making it sound kinda silly when you say it like that.” Makoto admitted bashfully as he rubbed his own cheek lightly. 

Kyoko’s eyes were soft as she gazed down at the setup. “No, it sounds relaxing.” She replied in a matter-of-fact tone. She wasn’t much of a fan of going to picnic spots in the park that were crowded by other spring revelers anyhow. 

They settled into their spots next to each other on the blanket, the fruit sandwiches in their hands making for a delightfully light snack for lunch while they watched the determined boy pace methodically in his search. Kyoko’s contentment soaked in and relaxed her body and mind as the breeze swept her hair and the birds provided music. Makoto had this whole scene pictured in his mind from the moment this plan entered his thoughts, a scene one wouldn’t even think possible when just not long ago the sky was painted red and greenery struggled in a cruel world.

Even before such a time, Kyoko was hard-pressed to imagine a scene like this for herself. It hadn’t even so much as crossed her mind, yet she ended up in the here and now that was reality. She couldn’t complain, closing her eyes and allowing herself to lean to the side until she found support on the shoulder of her loved one. Makoto was lost in the clouds, contemplating his own disbelief at their current reality until he felt the soft pressure on him. He let out a small breath and reciprocated by leaning his cheek lightly onto her head, the two of them soaking in each others’ presence with their eyes closed in complete peace.

“I can’t find any more.” A small voice snapped them back to attention, their eyes opening to the small boy standing just on the threshold of the blanket with a full basket that he had to hold up with both hands. Makoto leaned forward to see the sizable pile the boy had accumulated, and quickly checked his watch. “It’s… only been seven minutes…” He replied with his brows furrowed in disbelief.

“A-alright then, let’s count them to see if you didn’t miss any.” He suggested with an outstretched hand. There was still a chance that he had stumped him with at least a couple that might’ve been missed.

Twenty colorful plastic eggs later.

“No way…” The father uttered in a quiet and defeated voice. Every single egg had been found in a shorter amount of time than it took to hide them in the first place. He felt like he’d somehow lost at this game…

“Well done Shuichi.” His mother, on the other hand, praised the show of efficiency. Not to say that her husband wasn’t also proud of the good work, but at the same time he felt like his own efforts had been undermined a little bit. “Yeah, you even took me by surprise, buddy.” He conceded to push aside his disappointment, not wanting the boy to think he did anything wrong. 

“But you still have to open them up. Come one, I’m curious to see what’s in them!” He reminded that it wasn’t quite over yet.

The boy picked an egg up by random and shook it a little in a testing way before pulling at the obvious seam around the circumference of the plastic. With a bit of effort, he managed to pry it open and out popped a squishy little toy in the shape of a creature. Shuichi was both inquisitive and delighted at the little prizes inside, giving each one of them a good inspection before moving onto the next.

“You’ve always had a penchant for trinkets. This’ll probably keep him entertained for a while.” Kyoko remarked towards her husband, who hung his head a bit dejectedly. “Yeah… but i was hoping that the egg hunt itself would last him at least twenty minutes.” He sighed, but he took consolation in the fact that his son was still having some fun with a plastic frog that hopped when you pressed on its back end. 

“Don’t you think that an average of one egg found per minute is a bit of an underestimation?” The woman mused, apparently understanding the mind of their child better out of the two of them. “I didn’t think that--!” Makoto began his rebuke before his wife’s smooth words interrupted. “You’d be outwitted by a toddler?” She finished with a sly playfulness. The man’s lips were uneven in a sheepish scowl, but it melted into a smile as he let out a breath as if he had been holding it. “Yeah, that’s exactly it.” He agreed in an amused chuckle. He supposed it wasn’t much of a loss when his family was having this much fun.

Kyoko rested her chin on the palm of her hand. “How about I be the one to hide them next year?” She suggested nonchalantly. Though it was an innocent enough offer, Makoto almost couldn’t believe she’d say it all on her own without any convincing. After all, she said herself earlier that it was all a bit silly. However, when he saw the small smile on her lips and the softness in her eyes as she watched their child play, he understood.

“Good idea.” He gave a slight nod with a lighthearted smile.

_____________________________________________________________________

The offer hadn’t been forgotten by the next spring. The child had become a year older, and a year more clever. However, now he had to contend with his mother this time around, who took it a step further to make the challenge area to encompass the entirety of a nearby park, one that was more quiet than the city parks, but she still didn’t want to give him the luxury of searching in a place that he was as familiar with as their front yard.

“Are you sure this isn’t a bit too much?” Makoto was second-guessing the choice in location. “What if he gets lost? Or hurt?” He was looking around at all the possibilities. Kyoko did not share his concerns, however. “The borders of the park are very obvious, and he’s not reckless enough to get himself seriously hurt.” She refuted his points with hardly even a breath’s worth of hesitation.

“I don’t want him hurt at all.” He took note of her deliberate inclusion of the word ‘seriously’. It would certainly sour the mood of what should be a fun day if something like that were to happen.

“There’s no challenge without a little risk.” She replied simply, which didn’t do much to alleviate him. “You shouldn’t worry so much. Trust me.” She added in a more encouraging tone. He supposed that perhaps he should relax a bit, considering that the two of them will be there to keep watch on him.

“You’re right.” He chuckled it off. “Besides, it’s not like he’s as unlucky as I am.” The man added with a weak smile. The comment, as off-hand as it was, gave Kyoko a little bit of insight to his thought process. She supposed she couldn’t fault him, all things considering. 

The couple went back home to gather up the contestant of their little game, and once he was on-site his mother explained that it is only restricted within the borders of the park. Any nook and cranny was fair game otherwise. Shuichi enthusiastically started his search, perhaps not grasping the fact that he had almost three acres worth of area to scour for these tiny colorful targets.

“Are you sure he’s going to be able to find them all?” The father wondered out loud as he set up their blanket in the best spot to keep a visual on their charge. He hadn’t seen where all the eggs had been hidden so he wasn’t entirely sure if it’d be too difficult for him.

“No.” His wife answered in a short and sure answer, which caused the man to gape his mouth at the bold answer. “But… you want him to at least find most of them!” He reasoned, knowing that the confident reply from her meant that she probably didn’t even intend for half of them to be found, much less most of them.

“Not to worry. One day he’ll beat me and it will be earned.” She added casually as she sat down with their little lunch box and drinks.

“It’s not a competition…” Makoto responded in exasperation, already knowing that he’d never be able to convince her anyways before the sentence even left his mouth. He knew that the detective still had a piece of her that was hungry to know what her son was capable of, considering the promise he had shown already in his short life. His eyes looked deep into her analytic gaze, and followed its fixation to the child who had that same type of focus. The man could see two people who were cut from the same cloth.

It had been an hour since the official start of the hunt, and the parents could still spot their charge passing in and out of sight in his unwavering search. Makoto was starting to think that the boy had lost himself to concentration. “Hey! Shuichi!” He waved the child down at the next opportunity. “Come take a little break with us.” He beckoned while waving a bottle of water, knowing that it wouldn’t be healthy to let him go on any further without a little breather.

Shuichi followed the request and came running up to the blanket where he was summoned. “You’ve got to keep yourself hydrated, especially when you’re working so hard. Ok?” The father said as he untwisted the cap to offer. 

“Ok.” His son voiced in affirmation as he set his basket down to take a drink. It seemed like he was much more thirsty than he realized before the cool touch of liquid on his lips reminded him and unconsciously made him nearly finish the bottle. His little fingers had hints of dirt, and on his shirt a stray leaf stuck into the fabric told of how hard he must’ve had to work for some of these eggs… how far did Kyoko go exactly..?

“Alright then, let’s see what you’ve gotten so far.” Kyoko decided to take a tally on his progress during the down-time. She took the eggs out of the basket to count one by one and set them into a neat pile on the blanket to give him more room in the basket for more.

“Twenty-seven.” She said as she set down the last egg from his basket. “I’m impressed, that’s slightly more than half.” She said in pleasant surprise. Makoto looked a bit nervous… Impressed that he managed to find half within an hour period? Just what was she expecting from the kid..? Not to mention that his basket was so full by the time he was made to pause for a break, he probably spent a good amount of that time struggling with picking back up stray eggs that had fallen out. The man felt sorry for any person that was challenged by his wife, moreso his own young son.

“I think I know where more can be!” Shuichi got back up with a start to yet again take a hold of his basket. He seemed to take his mother’s assessment as encouragement, and was eager to keep impressing her.

“Alright, wish you luck. Remember to stay in the park!” Makoto called as the boy continued his mission, his energy refreshed by the little break. “Well, at least he’s still into it. I wonder how long he can keep this up though.” He remarked towards his wife, who was still patiently relaxing. “I wonder.” She echoed her partner’s sentiment in a musing tone. “It’s not like I object to spending extra time out here with you.” She added in a matter of fact way, to which her husband exchanged his own sly smile towards her.

“So is that your ulterior motive?” He said as he tangled his fingers into hers to lean in and brush his lips to her cheekbone. She leaned into the gesture invitingly. “You make it sound like I always have one.” The woman joked, allowing for them to both indulge in the mild but sweet affection. It was hard to clear their minds from the immense amounts of work that physically manifested as stacks on their desks, so every little bit of decompression mattered. 

The pair mingled for another couple of hours, their snacks long gone and their drinks dwindled. “Kyoko… it’s been a while hasn’t it?” Makoto hinted that maybe this was enough. “Indeed. I suppose we should start finishing up for the day.” She agreed that this was more than enough time. Just as they were thinking of going to find the boy, they saw him walk in their direction, falling short a few feet in front of them as he fiddled with the basket’s handle.

“Oh hey! Good timing, we were just about to come get you.” His father stood up and stretched a bit from sitting down for so long. 

“I don’t think I can find any more..” Shuichi replied in a weak voice, almost as if he didn’t want to admit to giving up. His yield this time around wasn’t even as much as the last time they saw, even with double the amount of time. He probably ran dry of all the easier ones and spent a lot of time with no luck.

“You’ve found more than enough on your own.” His mother assured him, seeing upon a glance that he’d managed an extra dozen in his basket. “Come on, let’s go on a walk. We’ll find the rest together, ok?” She said in a gentle voice that encouraged her son again and melted her husband’s heart. “Mmhmn!” Shuichi was a bit excited to have his mom helping, having absolute trust in her. Why didn’t he ask her a long time ago, in fact? Perhaps he had his own budding sense of pride that stopped him. Or maybe it was his intense focus that made the idea slip his mind.

“You two go ahead, I’ll be done packing up by the time you’re done.” Makoto waved them off as he already started putting things back into their box neatly, and he figured that this would be a nice little thing just for the two of them. Kyoko gave him a brief wave over her shoulder. “Thank you, dear. We won’t be long.” She appreciated his considerateness, since she was sure that the child would want to go home and open his little prizes up as soon as he could without having to waste the time on packing up first.

Makoto finished up before they got back. He couldn’t help but use the little lapse in time to check his emails, despite being a day off. Work never truly stopped for him, at best he was simply able to put it off for a bit of time.

“Dad! We got them!” A tiny voice pulled him out of work to see his boy running up, albeit carefully as to not fumble any of his gains from the basket, as his mother trailed behind.

“Good job! I’m glad, since you’re going to need every single one. Trust me.” The man hinted with a wink for punctuation. “Let’s put them safely with the others and get home to see.” He added with an extended hand to let the child put the handle into his hand so he may stow it in the back of the car. The park was easily within biking distance of their home, but they had decided to take a car to transfer the supplies for their activity.

The family boarded to get back home before the sun could grow weary. Once home, it was decided to open the numerous plastic shells on the floor to avoid the hassle of them rolling off a desk or table.

With a pop of the first egg opened, out fell a strange shape. Shuichi paused to look at it, and although he didn’t know what he was expecting in the first place, it wasn’t this. He had to pick it up carefully, as it was pretty flat, and he turned it over to inspect it. Ah, it was green and glossy on the other side.

“It’s a puzzle! See?” His father chirped, picking up another egg and popping it open to let another piece fall out. “Careful to keep track of them.” He picked the piece up to pick a safe spot to set it and start a pile.

Now, a puzzle probably doesn’t sound like a very fun prize for the short attention span many four year olds had, but it wasn’t an issue for the boy who had an appetite for curiosity. A fifty piece puzzle wasn’t enough to be a deterrent for a mind that enjoyed exercises in thought. It may have been Kyoko who hid the eggs, but Makoto was the one to come up with the idea of what to put inside of them, being rather confident that it’d be a clever idea for their son to keep busy on.

“Hopefully we got all of them…” Makoto remarked with a hint of concern as he watched the pile grow as the boy opened each egg and pondered the possibility of the colors on each one.

“Not to worry. All fifty eggs were accounted for.” The detective assured him, and normally it would clear his concerns immediately coming from her mouth, but he did a double-take at the number given.

“Hold on, fifty…?” He responded after a beat of thought.

“Yes, it’s a fifty piece puzzle, correct?” She replied plainly. “I’m sure I hid exactly fifty myself.” She added as an extra measure to her claim.

“Y-yeah that’s true..” Her husband wasn’t about to refute her. “But I hid one of my own, so.. there should be fifty-one.” He informed her, being rather surprised that it wasn’t found. He took another glance at the pile of plastic casings. No, he was double sure that it was his egg that was missing.

“Really now? You hid one?” The woman’s voice held a mildly surprised tone to accompany a raised brow. She was equally perplexed about not spotting it. Not as an insult to her husband’s abilities, of course, however she knew that he’s likely hide it in an easy spot to find on purpose.

She gave a small sigh. “We can take a quick trip to retrieve it. You remember where you put it right?” She suggested as she shifted in her spot as if she was already prepared to get going. 

“Come on Kyoko, even I can handle remembering where I put one egg.” He chuckled weakly and followed her lead. “Hey Shuichi, let’s put a pause on that for a moment. We have one more super secret bonus egg we need to go back for.” He ushered the child, whose eyes sparkled at the way his father worded it.

“Really?? It’s so secret not even mom found it?” The boy said in half surprise and half excitement that there was still a bit more mystery.

“You could put it like that, yeah..” Makoto couldn’t help but give a sly glance to the mom in question. She didn’t show much of a response, but he could internally consider this as a win against her for once.

The three didn’t waste time to get to the park before the sun could start setting on them. “It's just right near here, I can’t believe you guys didn’t-” The man spoke as he led them to where a patch of grass was only just a bit longer and thicker than the rest. He cut himself off when he realized that he didn’t see what he was expecting. Just… a plain patch of long grass.

“Hm, what’s the matter?” His partner noticed his change in demeanor. “Could it be that you forgot where it was?” She said with the slight slyness that the man knew would come back to bite him for his transgression not long ago.

“No way! There’s no other place in the park that looks like this.” He argued with utmost conviction as he got closer to the spot to inspect it. What he saw was even more disappointing than the possibility of him forgetting.

“See.. there’s an indent where it was sitting before.” He pointed to the evidence as proof. Kyoko rested her knuckle in front of her chin with a hum. She believed him, but it still made her wonder.

“Maybe someone found it before us.” Shuichi’s voice piped up, sounding less disappointed than one would expect, but he still mumbled a bit at the end. 

“Likely. It’s not like the park was closed off, and I had seen a few people during our time here today.” His mother agreed as she scanned the area just in case while his father wandered searchingly. It couldn’t have just rolled away on its own considering the grass was long enough to hold it firmly in place.

“Ah, that’s my luck isn’t it.” The remark was a common utterance out of the man’s mouth with a side of exasperation, unintentionally harking back to his former title. No. Not former. It was something that has followed him always, regardless of title. It made him pause in reflection, staring at the dent in the grass distantly for a moment.

“Ah well, it’s not even a big deal.” He snapped out of his own thoughts with a dismissive wave.

Kyoko pulled her eyes up at his sudden statement. “What do you mean? We came all the way here just to find it..” She responded quizzically to his quick defeat.

“It’s just one egg. Besides, it didn’t even have one of the puzzle pieces in it, so it’s not even that important.” The man answered as he turned to start on the way back. 

“.. Alright then.” Kyoko blinked once before conceding. “I guess it can’t be helped.” She added as she turned as well. “Come on Shuichi, you still have something waiting for you at home.” She spoke over her shoulder to call her son where he kneeled inspecting the spot that was in question.

“Ok mom~” He drew his voice out slightly to spare him an extra moment. However, just before he stood up to join them, a breeze made something soft caught in the blades of grass flutter enough to catch his attention. As he tilted his head to try and identify it, it blew out from where it was trapped and drifted into his nostril. He sputtered as he stammered back with his hands over his face.

“What’s up?” Makoto had given a second glance back at the boy to make sure he was following. Shuichi almost didn’t hear as he pulled something fluffy off of his nose. It was… a small bird feather? He then snapped to attention when he realized his father had addressed him.

“Oh, nothing!” The child dismissed, idly stuffing the small fluffy feather into the pocket that was on the breast of his shirt that was often reserved for a crayon. “Alright then, hurry. You know your mom doesn’t have a habit of waiting up.” Makoto chuckled, urging his child with an outstretched palm, who gave a quick nod and ran up to join at the adult’s side.

The luckster saw it all, but he made no comment.

_____________________________________________________________________

It was a couple days before the puzzle had taken form into something recognizable. Not bad for having no reference photo of what it was supposed to look like. He was in the home stretch, and only had a few more to place. 

It was a weekday, so his parents had come home not long ago and were once again busied in their home office room to wrap up anything that they couldn’t get to in the morning. Shuichi quietly worked as well, slotting the last few pieces into their rightful place.

It was almost done! Bit by bit it was revealed to be a scene of the outdoors, a stone trail snaking through the grass to lead up to what looked like the side of a white-accented gazebo. The top of the puzzle was dominated by beautifully bright purple flowers that hung like enchanted rain. However, that wasn’t the most interesting part. The small hand held up an odd, completely silver piece that didn’t seem to belong. His gaze shifted down to the one empty spot on the image that looked like it should’ve been a part at the gazebo’s base.

He hadn’t made so much as an attempt with this strange piece since it didn’t look anything like the rest of the puzzle. He figured it was the only shot he had, anyways. He placed it onto the empty slot and turned it a bit until it nestled neatly into place. He would have immediately celebrated and ran to tell his parents with pride. However, he couldn’t help but stop and think of the strangeness.

He propped his head up by his cheek in his palm as he scanned his eyes over the picture in its entirety, soaking in a bit of accomplishment. His gaze drifted over the crayon on his desk, which he noticed had a fuzz stuck into its paper wrapper. That’s right, he was reminded of that second mystery. Where was that last egg? 

He decided he wasn’t satisfied. He took the crayon, fluff and all, and stuck it into his pocket and hopped off of his chair. He knew his parents were distracted with busy-work, and this was his chance. The boy exited the house from a side-door, as it was closest to where their bikes were stored.

“Nnghh-” 

Inside the personal office the headmaster stretched with an unceremonious noise while trying to get at least one satisfying pop in his joints. “Mrs. Kirigiri, I had asked you to make sure to remind me to at least stop before dinner sneaks up on us.” Makoto joked lightheartedly to mark that he was done for the day.

“You didn’t specify a time, Headmaster.” His second-in-command quipped in return with an even tone, though it was simply to play along with the remark and so she shut her laptop at his prompting. 

He gave a chuckle in response. “Besides that, I have something I need to check up on.” He pointed a thumb over his shoulder at nothing in particular, glad to be on his feet again as he made his way to the child’s bedroom. Huh, the door was cracked. Shuichi normally had it closed completely when he was inside. Regardless, he gave a respectful knock anyways.

“Hey, how’s it-” The man cut his question short when he saw the still, unoccupied room. As he looked around to try to find the owner, his eyes fell on the desk where the boy’s project was laying complete. “Oh! Look at that.” The father mused to himself in pleasant surprise. “Well that didn’t take long.” He scratched his head, wondering for a moment if it should’ve been a bigger puzzle.

He left the room, figuring the boy must’ve been taking a break somewhere else in the house, but all he saw was his partner in the kitchen getting a drink. “Hey, did you see Shuichi out and about?” He asked, taking a second glance around to make sure.

“He wasn’t in his room?” She questioned simply as she put her glass down.

“He must be outside. I’ll go get him. He made pretty quick work of that puzzle.” The father commented with a grin as he left towards the front door.

Kyoko watched him with a quiet hum, her eyes shifting in the opposite direction, where she then went her own way. Sliding the side door open, she only had to take a quick look to notice something amiss.

Out in the front yard, Makoto scanned around the area with his eyes. “Hey Shuichi! Remember I told you to stay in line of sight if you’re going to play outside!” He had barely started calling out before he felt a tug on his sleeve as his wife passed him, dragging him with her with a purpose.

“H-hey, what-?” He voiced before being cut off.

“We’re going.” She said with an urgency in her stern voice as she led him to the car.

It was only when they were on the road that Kyoko explained. 

“His bike is gone!?” Makoto blurted out, his wife’s eyes glued in focus out the front windshield with an eagle’s focus. “Ok, but why would he leave? Where would he even want to go?” The frazzled father ran his fingers into his hair. The kid was too young to be going off on his own, much less this close to the evening time.

“We’re going to the park.” His wife replied simply without breaking her demeanor. It was a wonder he had driven this far before being told where to go in the first place.

“The park?” The man questioned incredulously. “You don’t think it’s because…” He trailed off, knowing that his partner knew exactly what he was going to say, and she didn’t speak up to dispute it. “Ahhg..” He groaned quietly. “He wouldn’t normally run off like that. He’s kind of a clingy kid, you know?” At this point the husband was just thinking out loud, considering his wife was already away.

“How would he even know the way all by himself?” He glanced towards his passenger briefly before putting his eyes back onto the road.

“Don’t underestimate your son.” She replied matter-of-factly. An answer so quick and simple that the father didn’t know that it’d be something that could bury itself into the back of his mind.

The couple arrived on-site shortly after, the passenger getting out of the car no later than it had been put into park, the driver only a second behind her. The two hurried to the park, spotting the tiny bike parked right where it should be on the rack. Even when running off, the boy was still courteous. 

At least this meant that he had come here on his own accord, but where do they even start…Going towards where his assumed target was last seen was a good start.

  
“Shuichi!”

“Shuichi!”

The couple called in different directions, but stuck relatively close to each other as they scoured the area for their progeny. The whole situation had turned into an entirely different kind of hunt than the friendly game they were playing before.

“Where could he be..?” Makoto voiced out loud on behalf of the both of them, his wife biting her lip quietly with a furrowed brow. There was nothing, not on the way to nor even at the patch of long grass they hoped to be finding the missing boy sifting through.

However, a distant sound snapped their attention in the direction it came from. It wasn’t exactly the type of noise they’d been hoping to hear. No, it was the type of noise that kickstarted their adrenaline in the worst way. The both of them ran towards it on instinct without a word, and the closer they got the more they recognized it as a dog’s barks and a man’s voice shouting.

The source finally came into view, and they stopped in their tracks to assess the situation unfolding before them. It was a man in a white hat and a rather nice looking black coat who was currently being harassed by a huge pure black dog whose eyes shined like gold buried in coal. It almost looked like the two were squaring off at the moment with an air of intensity that could be sensed even from a distance.

But then, it happened so quickly. The beast, with its hackles raised and threatening flash of its teeth, lunged forward and latched onto the upper arm of the coat. The man shouted once again, but remarkably stood his ground against what looked like at least forty kilos of power.

Makoto gave a grunt of shock and concern. “We have to help that guy!” He wasn’t about to watch a person get mauled right in front of him, even without any plans he rushed forward to do anything. Kyoko was close beside him for backup, knowing for a fact that he wouldn’t be able to handle something like that on his own.

However, as they were coming upon the struggle, the man’s coat sleeve, now sullied in hints of red, tore like paper at the mercy of the animal’s sharp teeth and impressive weight. Kyoko’s eyes widened as she saw the man’s exposed skin and recognized a mark that peeked out from the ripped fabric.

“Makoto!” She stopped her husband by grabbing onto his shoulder, bringing them both to a complete halt. “What? But I can’t let him just-!” He protested with urgency before being cut off.

“That man is dangerous.” She informed sternly with a guarded stance. Her warning was punctuated by a piercing yelp. They looked to see a glint of metal in the man’s hand, and even from where the couple stood they could see that it was wet. Fresh blood on a butterfly knife, and the grass stained red beneath the dog, though the canine stood its ground even after being forced to release its grip on him, seemingly brushing off its own injury.

“Call the police.” The woman ordered, going full detective mode and leaving her partner behind to break up the chaos.

“Wait! You can’t just..” He reached out with futility. He was about to say that she couldn’t just tell him just how dangerous the situation really was and proceed to run into the thick of it. But… this was her life, the very foundation of her being, and trying to convince her otherwise would be an insult and a waste of valuable time. So, against every fiber that screamed at him otherwise, he knew the most helpful thing to do would be to listen. He had to trust her.

Makoto took out his phone and made the call to explain the situation the best he could, following behind the detective just enough to feel more comfortable that he could jump in if needed, but far enough as to not end up in the way while he was rendered less effective from the distraction of the phone call.

But before even the fleet-footed detective could close in, the dog lunged at the mysterious man once again with a vengeance. However, the stranger jumped back to elude the snapping jaws and turned to make his escape, the canine close on his trail but likely only unable to overcome him from the fresh knife wound that was just inflicted.

But before she could continue giving chase, Kyoko stopped in her tracks when something caught the corner of her vision. Makoto stopped as well, muscles tensed. He couldn’t imagine what could stop the seasoned detective from her pursuit.

“Shuichi..?” She voiced quietly to herself in realization. In the distance was a small boy with dark hair huddled with his back to the base of a tree. She knew it was him, like a feeling that forced her body to stop, and it only took a moment’s glance to confirm it. The detective paused, however, her eyes darting back to her target for a moment in hesitation as if two of her instincts were fighting for her attention.

Her next move was decided when she changed course. “There you are.” She voiced in relief. Makoto was finishing the call as he noticed what caught her attention.   
“Ah! He’s ok, right?” The father followed suit, putting his phone away without so much as an indication of ending the call. He said all he needed to, and now he had his priorities.

Kyoko had crouched in front of her child to look over him. He seemed alright, aside from his cheeks looking a bit bigger, which was often a telltale sign that he was suppressing tears. The cause was likely the big scrape that marred the boy’s shin.

“What happened?” Kyoko’s questioning voice let soft concern seep into its tone as she pulled out some gauze to dab at his scratches while she inspected his leg, rolling his ankle to test and make sure the extent wasn’t just superficial. 

“I fe- fell out…” The child wasn’t crying, but his small voice was shaky as if he wanted to.

“Fell out?” His mother’s eyes scanned up the bark. “Of the tree?” She finished with the obvious conclusion.

“Shuichi, what were you doing out here in the park all by yourself climbing a tree?” His father spoke up, questioning how any of these things would be in the realm of possibility from the normally well behaved and rather meek child.

“... I found it…” The boy said almost too quietly to hear. The two parents furrowed their brows in unison with a similarly quizzical look before small hands shuffled to reveal what he was holding.

Two shiny silver halves of an oval. Makoto’s brows raised in recognition. “Hey is that…?” The man wondered out loud.

“This is one of the eggs, right?” The boy asked as he put the two halves together to demonstrate. “It was up there.” He added and pointed up to a bundle of twigs that formed a bird’s nest up high where a tree branch reached out.

Kyoko put a hand to her chin thoughtfully. Of course, a bird might’ve wanted to take something shiny like this. But she set that unimportant matter aside.

“What about that dog? And the man?” His mother questioned. The child was obviously alright, but the thought of him being involved with a vicious animal and such a man made anxiety clench at her chest.

“The dog was nice.” Shuichi replied, his eyes glancing up and around as if to look for it. “I put this up to its nose. Like the dogs on tv.” He dug in his pocket for the downy feather. “And we looked around the park. The dog looked up at the tree so I climbed up and saw this but… it was already open… it was empty...” He explained. “I didn’t see a man though.” The child added quizzically.

Aside from Makoto making note to give him a good talk to not only go off on his own over something so silly on top of not interacting with strange dogs at that, the father was just glad that things turned out ok in the end. They often did, right?

“Let’s get home to take care of that scrape.” Kyoko said what her husband was just thinking. “Please don’t do something like this again.” The mother pulled the child in to pick him up, nestling her cheek to his head in relief. What she said didn’t match what she thought, however. Of course, she didn’t mean never again, that would be unreasonable to expect when he wasn’t going to be this small forever.

As the familiar touch of her child eased her anxiety, thoughts swam in her mind… She prioritized her family. The feeling of it somehow being wrong wormed into her heart and made it sting in confliction. Of course she did, it was human to do. But at the same time… what did her life mean up to this point, and into the future? What did her name even mean? She couldn’t undo her past so simply, and she hated the way that something so basic felt complicated in her world.

Her partner gave a warm smile. “Let’s get back before it gets any chillier.” He prompted softly as Kyoko stood up and started walking in agreement. The man lingered behind a bit, double-checking his surroundings. After what he saw, he was justified in being a little extra cautious for his family.

His gaze then stopped at the tree and took a moment to scan up it’s height.

“Empty huh…” He mused. There was a bit of amusement that mixed with an uneasy feeling in his chest. Maybe it was meant to happen like this, he thought before turning to walk alongside the other two to be on their way home. 

After all that, the child didn’t even get the prize inside. How unlucky.


End file.
